FIELD TESTING OF ROOF BOLTER CANOPY AIR CURTAIN OPERATING DOWNWIND OF THE CONTINUOUS MINER

摘要

Roof bolter canopy air curtains are gaining acceptance as a respirable dust control device that can provide roof bolter operators with protection from overexposure to respirable coal mine dust. However, only about 50 mine operations in the U.S. with roof bolting equipment have canopy air curtains installed. Both lab and field studies on the effectiveness of roof bolter canopy air curtains have been published. Field studies, in particular, have shown the effectiveness of canopy air curtains to be variable. However, in all previous field studies, none have been conducted when the roof bolting machine operates downwind of the continuous miner (CM)-a scenario for which the canopy air curtain was designed to provide respirable dust control. This study, performed by researchers from the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH), was conducted to test a canopy air curtain on a roof bolter machine operating downwind of the continuous miner. Results of testing demonstrated that the roof bolter canopy air curtain can effectively provide respirable dust protection for roof bolter operators with dust control efficiencies ranging from 11% to 40%.